Soluble gaseous pollutants transport inside ternary liquid micro-cylinders in an equilateral triangular configuration at low Reynolds number

Abstract Gaseous pollutants transport inside liquid micro-cylinders with internal circulations in an equilateral triangular configuration is simulated to study the effects of varied gap-ratio (1 ≤ G/R ≤ 4), Reynolds (Re) number (30 ≤ Re ≤ 160) and incident angle (α = 0°, 30° and 60°) on the absorption in a uniform gaseous stream. The shear stress fluctuates with spatial position on the interface due to unsteady flow separation and attachment. Furthermore, the ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ vortexes inside liquid micro-cylinders are induced, respectively, where soluble gaseous pollutants are quickly entrained and partially blocked into liquid micro-cylinders by ‘inflow’ and ‘outflow’ type circulations pair at the stern regions, respectively. For incident angles α = 0° and α = 60°, the symmetric flow forms because of the symmetric configuration of liquid micro-cylinders, while for incident angle α = 30°, the asymmetric flow appears due to asymmetric arrangement. The ‘primary’ (large clockwise) and ‘secondary’ (small counterclockwise) vortexes usually depending on Re number and G/R facilitate gaseous pollutants intrusion into liquid micro-cylinders at separation point. The sensitivity of gap-ratio is presented based on the transient accumulation (mso2′), which characterizes the exact influence of G/R. The larger gap-ratio facilitates faster saturation of sulfur dioxide inside liquid micro-cylinders because of fully developed internal vortexes. As Re number increasing, the gaseous pollutants transport could be significantly enhanced because internal vortexes become gradually stronger. In addition, the incident angle has no significant effect on pollutants transport inside liquid micro-cylinders because of slightly direct interaction between separated shear layers and wakes.